


And with the dawn, what comes then?

by middlemarch



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Frozen 2 - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Husbands, Marriage, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Movie, Queen Anna, Romance, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21658999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: He'd lost track of the number of times this had happened but he wasn't worried about his back.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 81





	And with the dawn, what comes then?

Anna had fallen asleep at her desk again, her cheek pillowed on her bent arm. There was a small pool of drying ink a hairsbreadth from her face where the pen lay, dramatic in the light of the guttering candle. Rather, the pen she’d been writing with—a second pen had been stuck into the chestnut plaits that began above her ear, very likely when inspiration had struck her so completely she forgot the first pen was there and picked up the second to get down her latest idea. He’d have expected her to have an exuberant, swooping script, full of loops and dashes, commas scattered about liberally, but she wrote an angular, nearly crabbed hand, carefully constructed clauses and layered citations, waxing rhapsodic only when she described plans for improvements to Arendelle’s long-overlooked infrastructure. She’d gotten so excited by the prospect of a new installation of windmills she’d nearly clocked him with her startlingly accurate mimicry of the blades. He’d become quite good at ducking since she became the queen.

Now, Anna was still. He’d made such a study of her it was no longer difficult for him to make out the soft rise and fall of her back as she breathed, the barest flutter of her long dark lashes as she dreamed. He walked quietly to her side, as quiet as he’d learned to be in the deep woods, as quiet as a man of his size and stature could be, but he knew he didn’t need to. She wouldn’t wake now, not really, having exhausted herself not just today but yesterday and the day before—all the days before since she’d accepted the queenship and Elsa had removed to Ahtohallan in a dizzying shower of crystal shards kicked up by silvery Nokk, galloping for his life. Kristoff accepted that the sisters were each finally occupying their proper sphere, but he couldn’t help resenting how thoroughly, how immediately Elsa had left everything in Anna’s hands, unconcerned with what it would cost her. For as long as he’d known her, Elsa had worried about Anna’s life, but not necessarily the living of it. Anna wasn’t one to complain, far from it; she spent a good deal of her time stoutly refuting any suggestion that she might be tired or burdened, lonely or hurt. Even when they were alone and he wasn’t arguing with her about what he knew to be true, she could rarely bring herself to put it into words. She’d only look at him and let him see the shadows in her bright eyes before she lay her head against his chest, one small, slender, ink-stained hand pressed against his heart. It was the one that wore his ring.

Kristoff leaned over to pick her up; he’d had a good deal of practice at it. She was too light in his arms, though at least she was not chilled. She needed to eat more, to sit down for a meal that wasn’t a state dinner. She’d forget to eat or take a few bites and then become engrossed in some other pressing task, forgetting too her appetite, though if anyone ever let her have a moment’s peace, she’d eat plenty and with clear delight in the food. He was tempted then, sorely, devilishly tempted, to reach for her, kiss her sweetly curved mouth with his own hunger unconcealed, but he didn’t want to be another distraction from her next bite. He could wait. She wouldn’t rouse while he carried her from her study to their room, the room that still seemed too big until he drew the rich velvet bed-hangings closed around them or sat with her on his lap before the dancing flames in the hearth. She might mumble something drowsily but he could settle her back down murmuring _hush my Anna my Anniken_ and either the sound of his voice or its bass resonance, his body against hers, would soothe her. When the morning came, he’d ask her again what she needed but now, he understood without being told—a good sleep, kept unbroken by his arms around her, the darkness that held only the two of them and the banked fire; to wake in the daylight and before anything, to be Anna first and not the Queen, to fill their bed with crumbs from the serinakake and svele he’d squirreled away in a napkin for her breakfast, to laugh as he licked the crumbs from her fingers, the sugar from her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a little gently hurt/comfort where no one is really badly hurt and Kristoff gets to carry Anna around. And I clearly have some feelings about Elsa's abdication. As anyone who's read any of my other fanfic will recognize, I've given Anna a more serious intellectual life, making her a real administrative wonk.
> 
> Svele and serinakaken are two Norwegian pastries. Anniken is a traditional Norwegian nickname for Anna; to my dismay, Norwegian is NOT known for endearments, so I did not have Kristoff engrave anything in Anna's ring.
> 
> Title from Frozen 2 lyrics.


End file.
